Improvement in drop-hammers



and State of Connecticut, have invented new BENNE'I HGTGHKISS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

lMPaov/EMENTIN naoP-HAMMEas.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 111,775.. dated March l, 1864. ,i

To cltiwhom it may concern:

Be it known that LBENNE'I Horcnrtrss, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and useful Improvements in DropLifters 5 and I do hereby declare the following to beafull, clear, and exact description of the construe; tion and operation of thesame when taken in connection with the -accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-' Figure l, a front view of a drop press with my lifter attached; Fig. 2, asectinal view of the lifter; Figs. 3 and 4 and 5 are detached views to illustrate the operation.

Similar letters and characters indicate like parts in the several gures.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the anvil block or base, and supports the hammer B and its 'operative mechanism. l1 he upper part, U, is constructed so as to form guides c c, to receive and guide the hammer B. D is th'e driving-shaft supported in proper bearings, G G. E is the driving-pulleyxed to the driving-shaft D, through which to apply power to operate the machinery of the .li'fter.

F is a cylinder, iitted so as to turn freely on the shaft D. vIts two heads a and e are of a conical form, as seen in section, Fig. 2. Fixed to the shaft D (or a part or" it) is a disk or head, H. Its inner surface must be the re'versein form, and made to fit the head tof the' cylinder F. Another similar disk or head, I, is placed upon the shaft D and loose thereon, its inner surface made to fit the head c of the cyldis a spindle, inserted into the end of the drivin g-shatt, and tothe innerend of the said spindle is xed ablock,j`. This spindle and block have a lateral movement independent of the shaft D, the'blockf moving in a slot made in the shaft for ,the purpose. The block f must be of sufficient vlength to project through the shaft, as shown lin Figs. 1 and 2, to act upon thehead or disk'I.

L is alever, has its fulcrum aty g, and hung so that its shorter arm, a", may act upon .the

When power is applied to the longer arm., a?, of thelever L to bring thesaid,

arm down and lock it under the latch 0, `(see Figs. l and 3,) the shorter arm will press the spindle d and the-block f, attached thereto, inward, and by this-operation the block f will force the head or disk I against the cylinder F and firmly clamp the said 'cylinder between the two heads I and H, and the friction thus cylinder F to revolve produced will cause the With the .drivingshaft N is a flexible strap or band, one end fixed to the hammer B, the other end made fast to the cylinder F, so that when the said cylinder is revolved in the manner described it will wind up the strap N and draw up the hammer from the anvil. As soon as the power which holds the head I against the cylinder F is re.4

moved, the cylinder is freed from the action of the drivin g-shaft. Thus free, thehammer will fall upon the' anvil, (or work .thereon,) unwinding the strap from the cylinder in its descent,

and will-remaindow-n -u-ntil- `tha-ey]ieder isA4 again clamped as before between the two heads. A

I operate the lever I to clamp the cylinder in the following manner: l) is a rod, which has a vertical movement. On the upper end of the said rod I form a hook or catch, R, represented in Figs. 2 and 4 as raised and in Figs. land 3 as down. The said hook or catch acts uponthe longer arm of the lever Iifso that as the said rod is drawn do'wn from the position in Figs. 2 and 4 to that shown'in Figs. l and 3 it will force the lever L from the position in Figs. 2 and et to that shown in Figs. 1 and 3. In this operation the lever L will force the spindle d in for the purpose before fully described, and when the lever is drawn down suiiciently far a latch, O, (see Fig.. 3,) will latch onto the end of the lever L, and will hold the cylinder clamped until the said lever is released from the latch. This enables meto give an instantaneous release to the hammer, which allows the hammer to fall from its highest elevation with the unretarded force of its full weigh t. To, produce this instantaneous release Ilatch the lever, as before described. 0n the rod P, I formv an inclined plane, R', (s ee Figs.

'3 and 4,) and on the latch 0' and above the said l inclined plane I make a projection, r, so that whentherod P'is raised, as in Fig. at, the in c' En )d plane will strike the projection and force 'the latch back` to release the lever L,.aud when so released the'action of ,the spring u; raises the longer arm ot' the lever L and instantly releases the clutch, as in Fig. 2, and the hammer falls nnretarded. rlhe rod P may be raised and drawn down by the foot or hand ot' the operator; but such an operation would be inconvenient and troublesome.

In Fig. 5 I illustrate my device for au automatic operation. 2 is a plate moving freely np and down upon a projecting guide, c', on the i'ramc C. 3 is a stop on the frame C below the plate 2. This stop should be adjustable, so as tc be set higher or lower, as occasion may require, for'the purpose of fixing a point below which the said plate cannot fall. livcted to the said plate are levers 5, 6, and 7. To 5 and 6 springs are applied to act to raise the longer end ot 5 and to force (i toward the hammer B, as represented in Fig. 1. The lever 5 is represented in blue, Fig. 5, and in red as drawn down by means of the cord or rod, attached to a. treadle, 15. (See Fig. 1.) The lever 6 is represented as free, and by the action ot' the spring isforced inward toward the hammer into such position that as the hammer is raised it will strike the end of the lever 6. (See hammer in red, Fig. 1.) The hammer, still ascending, will carry with it the plate 2 until the said lever is drawn away by means of the cord or rod P in the hands of the operator, as shown in red, Fig. 1. The hammer will then strike the longer arm of the ever 7 (see in blue Fig. 1) and turn the short er arm up to clamp and hold firmly the rod P, as shown in red Fig. 5. The hammer still ascends and now raises with it the rod P. The result of thus raising the rod is to release the clamp, as described, and illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, and allow the Ahammer to drop. As the hammer descends the plate also descends ot' its own weight to rest on the stop 3. The rod P, now released from the lever 7, through the action of which it was raised, mghtot' its own weight draw the clamp again into action to raise the hammer or very much retard its descent. 'Io avoid such a result, I fix upon the frame a latch, 11. (See Fig. l.) As the rod P reaches itsfull height the latch 11 will by the action of the spring 12 spring into the notch 13 in the rod P and holdup the rod until the hammer shall have descended so far as to strike the latch, which projects inward under thehammer, as seen in red Fig..

l, and force it (the latch) out of the notch 13.

' .Lhen the projection s from` the hammer will strike the projection s on the rod and draw the' rod down to engage the clutch to raisethe hammer again, and at whatever point in its ascent the hammer is allowed to strike the lever 7, as described, it (the hammer) will be released and fall. That point is atthe option of the operator, it being at such point as he `may choose to draw the lever 6 away, so as to j `allow the hammer to pass it.

Should it be desirable to arrest the descent ofthe hammer or hold it suspended, the lever 5 is allowed to spring in from the position shown in red Fig. 5 to that shown in blue Fi .5.

h the guide c', I make notches, (see Figs. l and 5,) and within the slideplate 2, I hang a latch, 16, (see Fig. 5,) upon a pivot, 17, and connect the latch with lever 5 by a projection, 18, through the plate, and, as the hammer descends, it will catch upon the said lever 5, as shown in broken .lines Fig. 1, and cause the latch 16 to catch into one ot' the notches (see Fig. 5) and hold the slide up. This will sustain the hammer, and may be held in any po sit-ion desired by the operator. To release the hammer from such suspension, the operator draws upon the cord or rod 8 to remove the lever 5 back to the position denoted in red, Fig. 5,.and unl-atcb the slide, when both the hammer and slide will fall.

The machine which I have thus described is substantially the same as one oi' those referred to in my affidavit tiled inthe Patent Ofilice on about the 30th day ot' November,

1862, relating to the testimony taken in the case of interference declared, October 17, 1862, by the Honorable Commissioner of Patents, between my application for a patent for improvement in drop-presses and the patent ot' William F. ,Goulding and Frank` Cheney, granted September 16, 1862, and in which case the Honorable Commissioner issuedLetters PSaGtent to me bearing date of February 17, 1 3.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim thereon as new and useful, and' desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The frictionclutch described, in combination with the hammer of drop-presses when the same is constructed and operated in the manner and for the purposes substantially as herein set forth. f

2. The lever L and spindle d, when the same are combined with the'friction-clutch described, for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of the` rod P and latch O with the lever L in the manner and for the purpose substantially as described.

4f. The levers 6 and 7,. when combined with the hammer of drop'presses, in the manner and for the purpose specified. l

5. The lever 5 and latch 16,when combined with the hammer of drop-presses, substantially as described. A

6. The latch 11, in combination with the rod P and the hammer of ,drop-presses, substantially in the manner described.l

' BENNET H012CHKISS-` Witnesses: n

J oHN E. EARL, RUFUs SANFORD. 

